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August 07, 2004
Animal Cruelty - Child Abuse Link
By ANNE BOXHALL - August 8, 2004 - The Sunday Tasmanian
TASMANIANS have been urged to report cases of animal cruelty following recent studies that show strong links between animal cruelty and child abuse.
Studies in Australia and the US have shown people who were cruel to animals were also likely to commit sexual and physical assault, arson, vandalism and theft.
The links have led to child-protection and animal welfare groups working together to identify and cross-report incidences of abuse.
At a recent seminar in Sydney, US child psychologist Frank Ascione presented the common roots of violence to people and animals.
He called for a national tracking system to monitor animal cruelty, a view backed by Melbourne psychologist Eleonora Gullone.
Professor Gullone, of Monash University, has also completed studies showing links between abuse to animals and humans.
She said it was important to take animal abuse seriously.
"It is an important marker of child abuse and family violence," she said. "Anyone who suspects animal cruelty should report it."
Professor Gullone also said children who had been abused were more likely to be cruel to animals.
Police, vets, the RSPCA and other animal welfare agencies, domestic violence units, mental-health professionals, parents, neighbours and extended families have responsibilities to protect people and animals by reporting cruelty and abuse, she said.
Phone-in services such as Crime Stoppers mean the public can make reports anonymously.
RSPCA state manager Steve Coleman said the organisation understood the issue of reprisals and informants' details were always kept confidential.
In NSW, criminal profiler John Clarke interviewed 20 killers or rapists in jail. All admitted to torturing and killing animals as children.
Legislation in the US encouraging social workers to report animal abuse is a step in the right direction, says Professor Ascione.
However, the scope for using animal cruelty reports to intervene in the prevention of human violence remains largely untapped.
Chillingly, reports of high school shooting teenager Luke Woodham torturing and killing his pet dog just a week before he shot his classmates in Mississippi came too late.
Witnessed by a neighbour, the incident was not reported until after the school shootings, which killed two girls and wounded seven.
Professor Ascione pointed to educational programs focusing on the development of empathy and compassion in children, community intervention through the reporting of animal abuse and the recording of information as ways of addressing growing social problems regarding violence.
Posted by Nealus at August 7, 2004 06:10 PM
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